


The Garden Court

by Jerevinan



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Childhood, Gen, Memories, blatant Disney references, childhood AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26909554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jerevinan/pseuds/Jerevinan
Summary: Two siblings lose their ball in the neighbor's yard and meet the young girl who lives next door. The imaginary worlds in their garden are soon shared with another.
Relationships: Lauriam & Strelitzia (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	The Garden Court

**Author's Note:**

> This is all based off an AU I rambled about months ago in private. As we know, KH original characters don't have visible parents, so this is definitely not canon. :')
> 
> Anyway, I wrote the first chapter months ago? I hope I can finish it, my mind has been focused on one of my original stories, and a lot of my fics are neglected. But I do enjoy any excuse to write the siblings...

Their grandparents’ gardens was their playground, a wilderness that allowed the siblings to play out their favorite fairy tales or create their own. When Strelitzia crawled beneath the bushes and walked along the garden wall, she would reach a circle of trees Grandfather Alder planted years ago, when their father was small. 

This became Strelitzia’s court.

The little rabbit statues were her council. She perched among a tree, wearing a crown of silk gerbera and cosmos and bits of curling ribbon—made courtesy of her Nana. New laws were discussed. Strelitzia considered herself a strong advocate for making dessert every meal in this land that stretched from wall to wall. For a child, the yard held secret locations and magic. In reality, it was only a half-acre plot of land at the edge of a small town.

The hedges where she played with Lauriam became her maze in Wonderland. Their kitten, Chirithy, would play the role of Dinah, and Strelitzia would be Alice. After pretending to fall down a long hole by jumping from a tree into a pile of raked leaves, Lauriam would greet her wearing rabbit ears. With a snap of their father’s broken pocket watch, he would declare his lateness—which was always marvelously funny to Strelitzia, as Lauriam and the white rabbit both had a tendency to arrive late to everything. 

With no one to play the queen, they had to imagine one—a loud voice echoing through the gardens, screeching, “Off with their heads!” If they were fortunate to overlap with Grandpa’s tending to the yard, he would lend his voice for the role. Otherwise, Strelitzia would turn to her brother and yelp, “Do you hear her?!” and he would nod, playing along. He would take her hand and hurry her through the yard until they reached the safety of the back porch.

These were their games until Nana summoned them for dinner. These worlds belonged to them and only them.

That all changed the day they lost their ball. While tossing it back and forth, the wind picked up and carried it over the garden wall. The seven-foot-tall stones and size of the property often prevented such mishaps, but that day, the ball flew recklessly into the neighbor’s yard.

“I’ll get it,” said Lauriam. He scaled the nearest tree, his boots scrapping the bark beneath them. The bits crumbled down to Strelitzia’s waiting feet. She held onto Chirithy—still such a small kitten who purred at the slightest touch—and looked up anxiously.

They should have asked the neighbors for permission. What if Lauriam got into trouble for trespassing? Strelitzia was too intimidated to seek permission, and to her, the toy was lost forever unless some kind soul thought to toss it back.

“Hey!” Lauriam’s raised voice made Strelitzia jump. “Can you send that back over?”

A few seconds later, the ball sailed over the wall, landing in a cradle of hydrangeas.

“Thank you!” Lauriam lowered to the branch and sat, swinging his legs back and forth. “I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?”

Strelitzia inched closer to the barrier between the properties. 

“Elrena,” said a young voice on the other side. 

“Do you live here?”

“Why would I be here, if I didn’t?”

Lauriam grinned. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“Just because you haven’t seen me doesn’t mean I don’t live here. We moved in a little while ago.”

Strelitzia looked around her for a place to climb up and peek over the garden wall, but the closest object was an overturned wheelbarrow. Even on the tips of her toes, she would never see the other side.

“Nice to meet you,” said Lauriam. “How old are you?”

“Nine.”

“I’ll be ten next week.”

Strelitzia shyly did not speak, but her heart wanted to call out, “I’ll be eight next week, on the same day!” For she shared a birthday with her older brother.

Lauriam forgot to introduce her. Instead, he picked the blooms off a nearby branch and asked Elrena a series of questions. Petals scattered, some taken by the breeze while others drifted to the ground below the tree. They gathered at the toes of Strelitzia’s shoes. Chirithy batted at some of them, eventually hopping out of Strelitzia’s arms with claws out, pouncing and pawing at the increasingly pink carpet of ground.

After a while, Lauriam stood and tossed an entire flower over the wall.

“What’s this for?” asked Elrena.

“A gift. Come over and play!”

“I can’t right now.”

“Tomorrow?”

After a pause, Elrena said, “Maybe tomorrow.”

Strelitzia eyed the barrier between her and the mysterious girl, desperately wishing for a view and a chance to wave goodbye. 

Once Elrena left, Lauriam hopped off the branch. Both feet landed in the flowery debris, sending pink petals in all directions—and Chirithy, too, who dove back through the cat flap at the back door. As Lauriam brushed off the back of his trousers, the back door opened, and Nana called for both of them.

“What does she look like?” asked Strelitzia as she followed her brother back to the house.

“Pretty,” he admitted. 

That didn’t tell her much. The gardens were pretty. Mama was pretty. Clothing could also be pretty.

Streltizia puffed out her cheeks. “What does she look like?” 

“Didn’t you see?”

“I couldn’t!”

Lauriam rested a palm over her head, his smile warm, but the gesture was still full of sibling mockery at her short stature. He was tall for his age. Would he grow to be broad and tall like Grandfather, or would he be lanky, like Daddy?

Strelitzia pushed up on the balls of her feet, pressing against his hand. If only she were taller, and braver, too. 

What if their new neighbor could play with them? Would Elrena be willing to play the role of the queen, thundering out an order to chop off Alice’s head? Would she join them on the hammock and pretend it was a carpet making its way throught he perilous Cave of Wonders?

Strelitzia stayed up later than usual, unable to sleep as she daydreamed instead of all the possibilities that came with a new friendship.

**Author's Note:**

> I made them share the same birthday... hahaha (it's not that unusual, my mom was born on her brother's birthday, and her sister missed sharing it with them by _two fucking days_... they're all each a year apart)


End file.
